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In architectural heritage research, rituals and human activities are often overlooked but are crucial for maintaining authenticity and reflecting various cultural values. In the Tibetan-Yi Corridor, one of China's most renowned heritage routes, rituals and behaviours around the central pillar or fire pit reflect the shared culture and history of Di-Qiang ethnic groups, serving as critical indicators in studying their origins. A scientific method linking physical spaces with intangible cultural information is essential to preserve these rituals or activities and understand their interactions with architectural spaces. This study introduces a method utilising HBIM technology to document and analyse the 3D structures of Di-Qiang ethnic architecture and the rituals. It deconstructs rituals into bodily movements represented within the BIM space to simulate the behaviours of various roles. This method visualises ritual types and critical information by encoding different rituals and movements through geometric shapes, sizes, and colours, effectively linking architectural spaces with intangible cultural elements. The study's two main contributions are (i) the HBIM archival method for Di-Qiang ethnic architecture, standardising geometric modelling and semantic information recording to digitise Di-Qiang architectural heritage, and forming a foundational 3D model library and semantic database; and (ii) the 3D representation method for ritual movements, which offers a way to manage intangible cultural information and spatially assess cultural behaviours, and evaluates the authenticity and quality of architectural heritage by analysing bodily rituals in space. This approach introduces a novel method for documenting and researching intangible heritage in cultural studies. Additionally, the digital technology-based research method offers a convenient platform for integrating and connecting digital heritage with digital humanities in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitized heritage is regarded as an emerging field, with existing studies primarily focusing on one case study, technological aspect, or a methodological approach. Thus, there remains a notable gap in the literature regarding the understanding of how these technologies and methodologies can be utilized in smart heritage fruition. Approaches that harness technological advancements to enhance the decision-making process regarding the use of appropriate methodology at various heritage sites remain insufficiently explored. To address this gap, this study conducted a cross-case analysis to survey the use of heritage technologies across selected cases to find underlying trends and correlations related to the scale and methodology used. The findings of this study provide insights into the nexus of technology integration into heritage fruition, highlighting the role of tangible heritage documentation technologies. The present study concludes that smart fruition framework necessitates an ongoing process involving the integration of cultural heritage data, digital documentation, management, enhancement methodologies, and the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT facilitates the connectivity of physical items to the internet thereby supporting the understanding of heritage knowledge. Such framework operates through a collaboration platform that engages experts, local communities, and tourists to ensure a meaningful and interactive interconnection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By bringing together metadata from multiple collecting institutions, digital heritage aggregators offer the potential for diverse and dispersed audiences to engage with the collective cultural collections of a nation, state, or region. For institutions and policymakers, such endeavours promise greater value for public money, increased audiences, and democratised access to cultural heritage. This article explores how these idealised promises of digital heritage aggregators run up against the actual politics and practices of their implementation. This is grounded in a history of attempts to aggregate heterogeneous and geographically distant museum collections across Australia into a single ‘distributed national collection’. Australia’s landscape of museums has long been characterised by several major public institutions, which often play a coordinating role, and thousands of small (often volunteer-run) museums. We argue that aggregating cultural collections is not just a matter of standardising metadata but coordinating different needs, capacities, and priorities, particularly the divides between major museums and community collecting organisations. In response, we suggest a shift in the study of such collaborative endeavours, from the aggregation of cultural data to the coordination of data cultures. In practice, this approach eschews a top-down approach to bringing together heterogeneous organisations in favour of resolving tensions and disparities in divergent values, resources, and priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The North American Heritage at Risk (NAHAR) working group developed a research pipeline to employ collaborative methods to address climate impacts at archaeological sites that includes modeling, monitoring, meeting, methodizing, and mitigating. The People of Guana project was the inaugural study using the NAHAR pipeline to focus on a suite of sites located on the Guana Peninsula in northeastern Florida. The project was funded through the National Estuarine Research Reserve System's Science Collaborative (NERRS SC). This paper focuses on collaborative methods employed during monitoring efforts to document eroding resources using the Florida Public Archaeology Network's (FPAN) citizen science program Heritage Monitoring Scouts (HMS Florida). It further focuses on advanced monitoring techniques—shoreline mapping with an Arrow Gold GNSS receiver, terrestrial laser scanning of landscapes, and photogrammetry of exposed artifacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the process of digitally reconstructing the ancient Korean city of Suwon Hwaseong in 3D utilizing Historic Building Information Modeling (HBIM) resources to accurately represent its wooden architectural heritage. Previous 3D reconstructions of cultural heritage have often prioritized appearance or remained partially disassembled. However, our reconstruction method offers a comprehensive representation of the appearance and the internal structure of wooden architectural heritage, which can be suitable for restoration maintenance. To ensure accuracy in digital restoration, we collected and utilized administrative records and historical materials, including the geography, fortress walls, folk houses, and Haenggung (the temporary palace of the Joseon Dynasty)—drawing from the archive of the Korean Cultural Heritage Service's management records and the 1796 manuscript "Uigwe: Royal Protocols of the Hwaseong Fortress" which documents the construction of the ancient city of Suwon Hwaseong. Extensive architectural records were used to generate HBIM data, which digitized historical records, documents, and drawings to accurately represent the complex layout of the wooden architectural heritage. For the folk houses that lacked design records and the fortress walls that retained their original shape, we performed a digital restoration-based façade modeling. These elements of the ancient city of Suwon Hwaseong were assembled into a 3D model using Unreal Engine (version 5.1.1) to digitally reconstruct the city and enhance its visual representation. The digital restoration content, which utilizes visual effects and precise rendering from a game engine, can be used for the restoration, repair, and maintenance of both appearance and internal structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Reconstructing and processing 3D objects are activities in the research field of computer graphics, image processing and computer vision. The 3D objects are processed based on geometric modelling (a branch of applied mathematics and computational geometry) or machine learning algorithms based on image processing. The computation of geometrical objects includes processing the curves and surfaces, subdivision, simplification, meshing, holes filling or reconstructing the 3D surface's objects on both point cloud data and triangular mesh. While the machine learning methods are developed using deep learning models. With the support of 3D laser scan devices and LiDAR techniques, the obtained dataset is close to the original shape of the real objects. Besides, photography and its application based on modern techniques in recent years help us collect data and process the 3D models more precisely. This article proposes a new method for filling holes on the 3D object's surface based on automatic segmentation. Instead of filling the hole directly as the existing methods, we now subdivide the hole before filling it. The hole is first determined and segmented automatically based on the computation of its local curvature. It is then filled on each part of the hole to match its local curvature shape. The method can work on both 3D point cloud surfaces and triangular mesh surfaces. Compared to the state‐of‐the‐art (SOTA) methods, our proposed method obtained higher accuracy of the reconstructed 3D objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The absence of clear protocols in the conservation of new media art has led to a situation of extreme precariousness of digital artworks. The irruption of blockchain culture and NFTs seems to offer an opportunity to overcome this situation. This paper aims to clarify whether or not the structure of data and metadata associated with transactions in the blockchain solves the challenging obsolescent and unstable condition of new media art. The disturbing reality is that the so-called 'cryptoart' is not always stored and encapsulated on the blockchain itself. In a high number of cases, assets just point to artworks living outside, stored on off-chain servers or platforms. This paper analyzes the possibilities for the preservation of art hosted on the chain. Despite some limitations, this method is understood as the more coherent and robust for long-term life and availability of digital art associated with Web3 technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Community-generated digital content (CGDC) is one of the UK's prime cultural assets. However, CGDC is currently "critically endangered" (Digital Preservation Coalition, 2021) due to technological and organisational barriers and has proven resistant to traditional methods of linking and integration. The challenge of integrating CGDC into larger archives has effectively silenced diverse community voices within our national collection. Our Heritage, Our Stories (OHOS), funded by the UK's AHRC programme Towards a National Collection, responds to these urgent challenges by bringing together cutting-edge approaches from cultural heritage, humanities and computer science. Design/methodology/approach: Existing solutions to CGDC integration, involving bespoke interventionist activities, are expensive, time-consuming and unsustainable at scale, while unsophisticated computational integration erases the meaning and purpose of both CGDC and its creators. Using innovative multidisciplinary methods, AI tools and a co-design process, previously unfindable and unlinkable CGDC will be made discoverable in our virtual national collection. Findings: There currently exists a range of disconnected, fragile and under-represented community-generated heritage which is at increasing risk of loss. Therefore, OHOS will work to ensure the survival and preservation of these nationally important resources, for the future and for our shared national collection. Originality/value: As we dissolve barriers to create meaningful new links across CGDC collections and develop new methods of engagement, OHOS will also make this content accessible to new and diverse audiences. This will facilitate a wealth of fresh research while also embedding new strategies for future management of CGDC into heritage practice and training and fostering newly enriching, robust connections between communities and archival institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The layering process of the historic urban landscape (HUL) has spatial and temporal characteristics. With the help of digital technology, building a database to collect and manage spatial information on HUL is an effective research method. Taking Nanjing since the Ming Dynasty (1368–2024) as an example, our paper proposes a framework for constructing a historical geographic information system (HGIS) for HUL. The results show that (1) ancient Chinese historical archives have good potential for use in the construction of historical landscape databases. The HGIS can visualize the evolution of HUL and realize the storage, expression, querying, and analysis of information in different formats. (2) The Republic of China is a turning point in the evolution of Nanjing's HUL. In terms of spatial evolution, the main distribution areas of urban form and characteristic places, as well as the NACH (normalized angular choice) and NAIN (normalized angular integration) cores of the road network, all moved from the south to the north of the city. In terms of typological evolution, the urban form changes from a predominantly residential area to one that emphasizes residential, administrative, educational and industrial areas. The main types of characteristic places shifted from house gardens, temples and ancestral halls to scenic buildings and public gardens. (3) Political factors, urban planning, commercial ports, and land prices influence the layering process of the HUL. The constructed database guides the preservation of HUL from the digital heritage perspective and the construction of other historical databases with spatial characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a methodological, theoretical, and technological outline of codesign principles for the effective development of digital heritage extended reality systems for health and care. The paper is based on two large-scale research projects involving ageing in rural and coastal communities, focused on the codesign of extended reality systems to stimulate new forms of access to local heritage sites with potential impact on health outcomes. Our approach stems from a multi-disciplinary collaboration between health, digital design, and heritage specialists, and suggests ways to reconcile diverging forms of knowledge production, such as our 'researcher in residence' methodology and the place-based complexities of codesigning such systems. Based on an analysis of fieldwork data and our own fieldwork experiences, the paper presents a roadmap for the codesign of digital heritage extended reality systems for health interventions that meet the needs of stakeholders and organisational implementation requirements, providing a useful tool in supporting the health and social care system for our ageing population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this explorative and collectively written paper, researchers and archivists from the research project Children's cultural heritage — the visual voices of the archive ponder, wrestle with, confront, and dig deeper into what it means to preserve and include children's own voices in archives. The authors acknowledge that child-produced cultural objects are historical landmarks and significant parts of national heritage. The article raises questions about where and how the 'doing' of what is here called children's cultural heritage takes place, what it means to archive from children's perspectives, and what aspects of children are saved during these preservation and archival management processes. To collect, preserve and provide access to heritage might empower and affirm individuals and subordinated groups of people who have not been seen or heard in the historical past, in the present, or in future pasts. Children, as a category, is one such subordinated group in heritage contexts. Adults therefore have a responsibility to empower children by strengthening their position towards other social groups, towards society and the heritage domain. This article provides insights into the challenges that heritage establishments face in taking children's cultural heritage seriously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important to manage individuals' personal data after their death to maintain their dignity or follow their wishes as much as possible. From this perspective, this report describes the real-world commercialization of immortal digital personalities, which gives eternal life to the deceased in a digital form. We identify the problems with the commercialization of deceased users' images and personal data, which becomes postmortem entertainment. Considering these problems, we seek out the ideal form of deceased users' personal data for commercialization. We conduct a social survey to understand how ordinary Japanese people feel about the various types of publicly available services that use personal data after death, such as social network service logs. By analyzing our survey results approximately 20% of respondents would allow the commercial use of their personal data, such as browsing their social network service logs, if they could receive compensation during their lifetime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europeana is a digital infrastructure aggregating the most extensive collection of cultural heritage data in Europe. Launched in 2008, it has enjoyed the political and financial support of the European Union and its member states, becoming the most ambitious and financed digital cultural project to date. For this reason, Europeana is an outstanding example of how the European Commission has used digital heritage platforms to pursue its cultural agenda. Nevertheless, the social and cultural implications of this digital infrastructure are still understudied. Following Europeana's evolution, this article explores Europeana's role in transforming the cultural sector and defining a European digital cultural policy. Analysing how the goals of the EU cultural policy have been implemented in the development of Europeana, this article reveals how Europeana has been instrumental in steering the digitisation of the European cultural sector through the development of standards and best practices. Furthermore, through digital heritage curation, Europeana plays a critical role in producing the narrative of a European past, promoting the construction of European citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents the background and the evaluation of integrating eXtended Reality (XR) in the permanent exhibition at the Tomato Industrial Museum "D. Nomikos". This paper firstly provides the context of this study by outlining the methodological, technological, and museological approaches undertaken to integrate XR in a quest to enhance visitors' meaningful engagement with the industrial heritage-related exhibition. Storytelling and narration are key elements of the museum's museological design through audio tours and interactive AR-based visualization n of the machinery's role and function. This paper presents and discusses the design of the evaluation methodology employed in the context of pertinent methods and approaches used in related research. This study investigates the effectiveness of XR for audience engagement and the added value that such technologies offer to the user experience as well as possible improvements. The main method adopted for gathering quantitative data is the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ), and for qualitative data, through semi-structured interviews. Moreover, the findings are analyzed, interpreted, and discussed. Based on a case study, this paper offers a broader discussion of the challenges and prospects connected to the quest of employing emerging technologies and assessing their impact on visitors' museum experience, reaching conclusions for future directions in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The application of digital technologies to museum heritage is increasingly widespread. • Digital anastylosis processes can aid the conservation of museum finds. • Digital anastylosis requires standardised digital survey protocols. • Integrated digital technologies can foster knowledge of fragile cultural heritage. The conservation, development, and enjoyment of the artefacts in museums can benefit greatly from the application of integrated digital technologies. This topic is of great interest not only to researchers in various disciplines, but also to the managers of this heritage, the producers of technologies, innovative companies and start-ups, and the wider public. However, it does not currently seem to be possible to identify methods and protocols shared between the actors involved for the purpose of managing the phases of acquisition, definition of data models, management of digital content, and its later implementation. "Tailor-made" approaches therefore have direct consequences on the efficacy of the digitalisation processes currently available when applied to conservation and restoration, and to the promotion of cultural heritage. In this paper, we propose a protocol for the digitalisation of archaeological artefacts for the purpose of their display in museums. The method is illustrated with reference to a case study involving very rare artefacts from a wooden throne from the Villanovan Age. Finally, the work is part of the results of a wider project for the definition of protocols for the surveying and modelling of cultural heritage, from the architectural scale down to the scale of artefacts, carried out through public-private partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digitalisation of cultural heritage creates expectations for improved research methods and more diverse and inclusive memory institutions. However, it is difficult to take advantage of the opportunities the quantification might give owing to deficient and inadequate metadata. The diversity of standards and wilfulness in different historical archive practices creates problems when aggregating data from various sources. The ambition to create more diverse and inclusive memory institutions, compensating for the historical lack of justice, also creates the risk of excluding important contexts from the digital collections. To develop research methods that take this archival wilfulness into account, in this study I have used speculative design to explore images from Europeana, the digital archive that aggregates data from memory institutions all over Europe. Instead of seeing this archive as something lacking in terms of shared standards and inclusive vocabularies, I suggest we see Europeana as a queer collection of wilful archival practices, by showing the desires and imaginations represented in the archival context. By contrasting the visual content of an image with the metadata that describes the image, the norms and desires in the archival practice come into focus, as the metadata points out what at the time was considered interesting about an image, and the reason the photograph was taken. Images described as 'Swedes', for example, rarely show pictures of Swedes in Sweden. Swedes are described as Swedes when they are outside Sweden. It is the exotic and foreign that are categorised. Most importantly, the person who controls the camera is not in the picture, but the choice of perspective and the metadata description of the image tell us something about the photographer's and archivist's will and desires. By visually reversing the perspective and making visible both norms and deviations, I show how one can approach this digital heritage with a methodology of feminist wonder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europeana is a cultural heritage initiative financed by the European Union (EU) with the primary scope of curating a platform aggregating digital collections of European cultural heritage. Among other tasks, Europeana designs best practices and digital tools aligned with the EU’s digital cultural policy to support the digitization of cultural heritage institutions in the member states. Therefore, it can be considered a socio-political actor building an international network. Nevertheless, it has mainly been studied as a digital service. To investigate Europeana’s impact on the European cultural sector, this work proposes a three-level methodology combining web mapping, close reading of websites, and statistical analysis. This methodology offers a comprehensive picture of the Europeana platform’s role on the web, providing evidence of its action as a social hub gathering a network of national and local actors in the European cultural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research contributes to the discussion around the importance of the long-term preservation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and minted digital artworks. The paper is based on a review of the literature on blockchain in art and heritage management and conservation, with particular attention to references related to the production, marketing, maintenance, and distribution of NFT-based digital art. The aims of this paper involve anticipating potential problems in the oversight of NFTs and setting out good long-term management principles and practices as well as specific preservation strategies. Despite the fact that it also discusses issues over authorship, copyright, creative commons, and open access, the paper is particularly devoted to raising concerns about the high energy consumption associated with blockchain technology and its impact on climate change. It also highlights how the preservation of NFTs cannot be neglected, despite the belief that they last forever. Most studies dedicated to analysing the impact of blockchain technology on the cultural heritage sector ignore the most important issue: preserving not only the minted digital artworks themselves but also the respective blockchain networks. Overall, this paper seeks to foster a collective awareness of the need to reflect on blockchain-related art practices and their implications for the long-term protection of cultural property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most cultural promotion and dissemination are nowadays performed through the digitization of heritage sites and museums, a necessary requirement to meet the new needs of the public. Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Virtual Reality (VR) have the potential to improve the experience quality and educational effect of these sites by stimulating users' senses in a more natural and vivid way. In this respect, head-mounted display (HMD) devices allow visitors to enhance the experience of cultural sites by digitizing information and integrating additional virtual cues about cultural artifacts, resulting in a more immersive experience that engages the visitor both physically and emotionally. This study contributes to the development and incorporation of AR, MR, and VR applications in the cultural heritage domain by providing an overview of relevant studies utilizing fully immersive systems, such as headsets and CAVE systems, emphasizing the advantages that they bring when compared to handheld devices. We propose a framework study to identify the key features of headset-based Extended Reality (XR) technologies used in the cultural heritage domain that boost immersion, sense of presence, and agency. Furthermore, we highlight core characteristics that favor the adoption of these systems over more traditional solutions (e.g., handheld devices), as well as unsolved issues that must be addressed to improve the guests' experience and the appreciation of the cultural heritage. An extensive search of Google Scholar, Scopus, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and Wiley Online Library databases was conducted, including papers published from January 2018 to September 2022. To improve review reporting, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were used. Sixty-five papers met the inclusion criteria and were classified depending on the study's purpose: education, entertainment, edutainment, touristic guidance systems, accessibility, visitor profiling, and management. Immersive cultural heritage systems allow visitors to feel completely immersed and present in the virtual environment, providing a stimulating and educational cultural experience that can improve the quality and learning purposes of cultural visits. Nonetheless, the analyzed studies revealed some limitations that must be faced to give a further impulse to the adoption of these technologies in the cultural heritage domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, digital tools represent a privileged means of describing and understanding of cultural heritage. However, existing hybrid methods for semantic annotation on digital models are mostly manual and require considerable human intervention. This may cause data dispersion or data alteration issues, preventing the digital collection of multidisciplinary heritage information in collaborative valorization and conservation projects. Tackling this problem, this work presents three different methods for more automated 2D/3D data annotation, making the most of Machine Learning or Deep Learning and of the collaborative, web-based annotation platform Aïoli. The proposed approaches are designed to assist heritage experts in the hybrid annotation of architectural objects, e.g., to identify building components, degradation patterns, mapping of alterations, materials etc. and to share and access 2D/3D information via the web. The work aims at providing public and private stakeholders in charge of restoration and conservation activities with a set of more automated annotation tools, allowing to: i) preserve data in the transition to different representation types; ii) propagate analytically relevant information via digital models and/or images; iii) share heritage-related data on the web with an open source strategy. The validated workflows sketch the outlines of a dedicated and user-friendly toolbar for semi-automatic annotation, directly integrated into the Aïoli user interface, where automated annotation tools are readily available to the community of heritage professionals to properly support documentation and restoration activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technology advancements have had a significant impact on how people learn, search for information, and evaluate it. Indian cultural heritage institutions like GLAMs (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) have also embraced a number of digitisation initiatives to increase access to their wide-ranging art collections. Digital paintings and other cultural heritage information artifacts can facilitate digital humanities research in multiple ways. Using an online content analysis and observation method, this study looks at how metadata elements are used to describe the different art collections in five national museums in India. The study finds that 13 categories of art objects are made available by all the museums. Each category is described by a different number of metadata entry elements. The study also finds the metadata elements that different museums prefer for different types of art objects, as well as the common elements. The findings highlight the need for standardisation in metadata practices to improve the discoverability and accessibility of cultural objects and show how crucial metadata is in facilitating access to cultural objects. The results could help GLAMs create metadata guidelines and strategies for their digital collections, which would make digital art objects more discoverable and accessible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "Art-Risk 3.0" research project has developed a new tool to address the challenges faced in maintaining and preserving cultural heritage. This tool aims to evaluate the functional operational age and life cycle of heritage buildings in the Arc de Berà area in Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain, with the goal of promoting preventive conservation through a multidisciplinary approach. The tool considers various factors that contribute to the condition of heritage buildings, including structural stability, material decay, environmental risks, and usage patterns. By employing a fuzzy model, it provides an assessment of the building's condition in historical sites. One of the key features of the Art-Risk tool is its ability to prioritize intervention among different case studies within a specific urban context. It generates three output results: vulnerability, risk, and functionality index. The vulnerability value indicates the level of vulnerability of a building, with lower values suggesting better structural stability and resilience against potential hazards. The risk value signifies the level of risk associated with a building, with lower values indicating a reduced likelihood of damage or deterioration. The functionality index reflects the operational condition and suitability of a building for its intended use, with higher values indicating better functionality and operational performance, by considering these diverse valuations, stakeholders and conservation plan managers can effectively establish priorities for intervention. Buildings with higher vulnerability, risk, or lower functionality index scores are given higher priority for intervention. This approach ensures that limited resources are allocated to the buildings that require immediate attention, maximizing the impact of conservation efforts. Art-Risk3.0 model incorporates 19 input variables, with five variables automatically assigned based on the building's geographic location. Users are required to provide valid geographical coordinates and the remaining 14 associated values to obtain an accurate assessment of the building's condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heritage sites around the world are being impacted by the climate crisis, a situation that continues to grow in scope and severity. As archaeologists, land managers, and other heritage professionals seek solutions to mitigate the impacts, three-dimensional (3-D) digital heritage techniques can assist heritage professionals in the rapid documentation of sites. This technology can be particularly impactful where sites may be lost, creating a digital record of what the site once was. Building upon its Heritage Monitoring Scouts (HMS Florida) Program, the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) is using terrestrial laser scanning and photogrammetry to document impacted sites across Florida. Documentation techniques include capturing entire landscapes, as well as curating digital models of artifacts in lieu of collecting the physical objects. Several of its projects, including a study of the techniques during a two-year grant-funded project, shed light on the affordances and constraints of the technology's application in historical archaeology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research into architectural form analysis using deep learning (DL) methods has shown potential to identify features from large collections of building data, shedding new light into formal aspects of our built environment. As these methods begin to enter architectural, urban, and policy design contexts, it becomes important to develop critical approaches to employing them. In this paper, we document and reflect upon our efforts to create a custom dataset of 3-D models of 331 wooden churches located within the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe, and to use DL methods to explore this dataset with the goal of revealing unexpected formal traits and advancing architectural scholarship on this subject. While existing scholarship groups them into four distinct stylistic categories, our analysis reveals stylistic overlaps, previously undetected micro styles, and shared architectural features. We posit the resulting analyses as an example of an 'architectural distant reading' that enriches our understanding of this architectural typology through an unprecedentedly detailed portrait of its formal characteristics based on a large architectural dataset. Crucially, drawing on recent developments in critical data and algorithm studies, we show how the dataset construction and subsequent analyses, and their results, were shaped by slow, manual data curation processes, methodological constraints, subjective decisions, and engagements with archives, domain experts. We thus illustrate how DL techniques might be contextualized for architectural studies in relation to other modes of knowledge and labour, and offer a detailed case study of state-of-the-art computational methods enriching established approaches to architectural form and historical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, Taonga tuku iho (Māori ancestral treasures) circulated within complex political, social, and economic landscapes. From the late eighteenth century, however, the influx of Pākehā (non-Māori) resulted in tens of thousands of artworks moving out of Māori communities and into museums overseas. This article considers the dilemma of how to reconnect taonga Māori with whānau (family), hapū (sub-tribe), and iwi (tribe). A digital case study is presented as part of the Ngā Taonga o Wharawhara: The World of Māori Body Adornment project, as one strategy. We created a database we call the Rākai Register, and identified easy-to-use and cost-effective digital technologies such as Google Drive and Google Maps to store and display information about adornments either in public museum collections or which have been sold through auction. In the last section, we present the perspectives of Māori and Pasifika experts engaged with museum collections who reflect on the value and concerns of putting such cultural material online. Glossary of Māori terms: Atua: deity; Aurei: cloak pins of ivory or greenstone;Hapū: sub-tribe; Harakeke: Phormium tenax, fibre used extensively in weaving; Hei matau: fish hook-shaped greenstone adornment; Hei tiki: human-shaped adornment, usually from greenstone; He kupu hōu: some terminology; Heru: fine hair comb; Iwi: tribe; Kaitiaki: guardian; Kaitiakitanga: guardianship; Kanohi-ki-te-kanohi: face-to-face; Kapeu: a greenstone eardrop with the end curved; Kōrero: narratives; Kōrero pūrākau: knowledge review; Kuru: straight greenstone adornment; Mako: shark's tooth, used as an ear-ornament; Mana: prestige; Manaia: spiritual guardian, often shown as a beaked figure; Marakihau: carved figure with a fish tail, human head and a tube-like tongue; Mātauranga Māori: Māori knowledge; Mihi: greet; Pākehā: non-Māori; Papahou: rectangular-shaped carved wooden container for adornment; Pekapeka: a greenstone adornment representing two bats back-to-back; Pōria: an adornment made of pounamu or bone to mimic a ring worn on the leg of a captive bird; Powaka whakairo: box-like container for adornments; Pūpū harakeke: land snails; Rakau momori: Moriori tree engraving; Rākei: to adorn, bedeck; adorn oneself; Rei puta: whale tooth adornment; Tā: Sir; Tamariki: children; Tangata whenua: people of the land, Māori; Tangihanga: funeral; Taoka: Ngāi Tahu dialect version of 'taonga'; Taonga/taonga tuku iho: treasure, anything prized; Tapu: sacredness; Te Ao Māori: The Māori World; Te Kore: The Nothingness; Te Reo me ōna tikanga: the language and protocols; Tikanga: protocols; Tino Rangatiratanga: sovereignty; Waiata poi: poi song; Waka huia: oval-shaped carved wooden container for adornment; Whakaaro: thoughts; Whakakai: straight greenstone adornment; Whānau: family; Whakapapa: genealogical ascent and descent; provenance; Whakataukī: proverb; Wharawhara: long plumes of the white heron, worn by chiefs on state occasions; Wheua: human bone [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major public health measures to manage and contain the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was to engage in systematic contact tracing, which required gastronomy, community and sporting venues to keep patron registers. Stand-alone and web-based applications, developed by a range of private IT providers, soon replaced pen-and-paper lists. With the introduction of a uniform, state-wide, mandatory data collection system, these private applications became obsolete. Although only active for four months, these applications paved the way for the public acceptance of state-administered collection systems that allowed for an unprecedented, centralized tracking system of the movements of the entire population. This paper discusses the cultural significance of these applications as a game changer in the debate on civil liberties, and addresses the question of how the materiality, or lack thereof, of this digital heritage affects the management of ephemeral smartphone applications, and its preservation for future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of digital cultural heritage (DCH), 2D/3D digitization strategies are becoming more and more complex. The emerging trend of multimodal imaging (i.e., data acquisition campaigns aiming to put in cooperation multi-sensor, multi-scale, multi-band and/or multi-epochs concurrently) implies several challenges in term of data provenance, data fusion and data analysis. Making the assumption that the current usability of multi-source 3D models could be more meaningful than millions of aggregated points, this work explores a "reduce to understand" approach to increase the interpretative value of multimodal point clouds. Starting from several years of accumulated digitizations on a single use-case, we define a method based on density estimation to compute a Multimodal Enhancement Fusion Index (MEFI) revealing the intricate modality layers behind the 3D coordinates. Seamlessly stored into point cloud attributes, MEFI is able to be expressed as a heat-map if the underlying data are rather isolated and sparse or redundant and dense. Beyond the colour-coded quantitative features, a semantic layer is added to provide qualitative information from the data sources. Based on a versatile descriptive metadata schema (MEMoS), the 3D model resulting from the data fusion could therefore be semantically enriched by incorporating all the information concerning its digitization history. A customized 3D viewer is presented to explore this enhanced multimodal representation as a starting point for further 3D-based investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reconstruction of 3D geometries starting from reality-based data is challenging and time-consuming due to the difficulties involved in modeling existing structures and the complex nature of built heritage. This paper presents a methodological approach for the automated segmentation and classification of surveying outputs to improve the interpretation and building information modeling from laser scanning and photogrammetric data. The research focused on the surveying of reticular, space grid structures of the late 19th–20th–21st centuries, as part of our architectural heritage, which might require monitoring maintenance activities, and relied on artificial intelligence (machine learning and deep learning) for: (i) the classification of 3D architectural components at multiple levels of detail and (ii) automated masking in standard photogrammetric processing. Focusing on the case study of the grid structure in steel named La Vela in Bologna, the work raises many critical issues in space grid structures in terms of data accuracy, geometric and spatial complexity, semantic classification, and component recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a semi-automatic Scan-to-BIM reconstruction approach, making the most of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques, for the classification of digital architectural heritage data. Nowadays, Heritage- or Historic-Building Information Modeling (H-BIM) reconstruction from laser scanning or photogrammetric surveys is a manual, time-consuming, overly subjective process, but the emergence of AI techniques, applied to the realm of existing architectural heritage, is offering new ways to interpret, process and elaborate raw digital surveying data, as point clouds. The proposed methodological approach for higher-level automation in Scan-to-BIM reconstruction is threaded as follows: (i) semantic segmentation via Random Forest and import of annotated data in 3D modeling environment, broken down class by class; (ii) reconstruction of template geometries of classes of architectural elements; (iii) propagation of template reconstructed geometries to all elements belonging to a typological class. Visual Programming Languages (VPLs) and reference to architectural treatises are leveraged for the Scan-to-BIM reconstruction. The approach is tested on several significant heritage sites in the Tuscan territory, including charterhouses and museums. The results suggest the replicability of the approach to other case studies, built in different periods, with different construction techniques or under different states of conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to enable users of digitized cultural heritage artefacts to understand the correlation between artefacts and their context, discover new knowledge, and gain inspiration. We have developed data labelling and visualization technologies specific to cultural heritage so that users, such as curators, cultural heritage experts, and museum visitors, can easily and quickly access the information that they want through the correlation between artefacts. We came up with a web-based labelling tool for cultural heritage data and applied it to data on 45,692 artefacts from the National Museum of Korea. We also invented a web-based visualization tool that converts lists of attribute information in Excel spreadsheets into visualized content and edits the attributes. The meanings of thumbnails of visualized cultural heritage and that of connected lines, a search function, and visualized cultural heritage will allow users to quickly and easily access the cultural heritage information they are looking for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to investigate how participatory design influences interdisciplinary relationships in digital heritage projects. In particular, the article reflects on opportunities and challenges of interdisciplinary encounters in participatory design, with the cross-border project "Terra Mosana" as a case study, which aims to investigate, digitalize, and communicate the shared heritage of the Meuse–Rhine Euregion (EMR). Terra Mosana is a collaboration between multiple partners from municipalities, museums, cultural heritage sites, and universities in different EMR cities. Partners of the project have different backgrounds that vary from archaeologists, historians, and heritage professionals to computer scientists, developers, and communication specialists. My role in this project focused on designing and organizing several participatory design workshops with citizens of the EMR, aiming to empower and enable them to share their views about their shared history, and what they want from museums and other cultural institutions. Those workshops play a crucial role in the project by creating meaningful connections across the different disciplines involved in the project. In this article, I focus on the negotiation processes between the partners involved: What challenges were they confronted with? How did they arrive at creative solutions, and which issues remained unresolved? My analysis does not draw only on my participatory observation of workshops, but also on a focus group discussion that invited the partners to reflect on and assess the collaborative process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reuse and sharing of archaeological data are tied to ethics in data practice, research design, and the rights of Indigenous peoples in decision-making about their heritage. In this article, the authors discuss how the CARE (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, and Ethics) principles and Indigenous data governance create intellectual space for archaeological research. We show how archaeologists can use this framework to highlight hidden costs and labor associated with the "data ecosystem," which are often borne by Indigenous nations and communities. The CARE framework gives voice to Indigenous peoples' concerns around data sharing, curation, and reuse; ways we can redress these issues; and strategies that facilitate Indigenous nations and communities in deriving collective benefit from research. In archaeology, these efforts include greater work on heritage legislation and policy, repositioning Indigenous peoples as active stewards of their data, and building capacity in digital methods and ethical data practice. Each Indigenous nation and community has its own interests, values, and protocols, and we suggest paths to bring data practice into alignment with the CARE framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many researchers in the field of cultural heritage point to the justification of the use of extended reality to present digital heritage. Research studies, but mainly user reactions, have responded to experiences with extended reality with a positive response. Technological research in the field of extended reality is advancing rapidly. In this review, we will cover the current possibilities and trends of extended reality. Specifically, we will focus on the application in creating interactive multimedia exhibitions in museums and galleries and presenting 3D digital heritage. We believe the practical examples shown will be an inspiration for application developers, content creators, and exhibition curators. Awareness of the possibilities and limits of the current state of technological progress is an essential requirement for utilisation of the full potential of extended reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of big data and fake news, museums' collection practices are particularly important democratic cornerstones. Participatory technologies such as crowdsourcing or wikis have been put forward as a means to make museum collections more open and searchable, motivated by a desire for efficiency but also as a way to engage the public in the development of a more diverse and polyphonic heritage. However, there is a lack of a nuanced vocabulary to describe participatory technologies in terms of democracy. Without a deeper understanding of how technology shapes the overall structures, there is a risk that the tools instead undermine democratic ambitions. Addressing the need to conceptualize democracy in these contexts, we therefore develop a framework for participatory technologies with an eye toward the long-term development and preservation of cultural heritage. In this framework different democratic processes intersect with democratic values, from a liberal conception of democracy to a more deliberative democracy, to an agonistic pluralism emphasizing the importance of acknowledging conflict and diversity. To firmly ground our vocabulary in museum collection practices, we have investigated two cases from museums in the US that have opposite participatory strategies for enriching images with metadata; the Smithsonian Transcription Center, and the National Gallery of Art collection on Wikimedia Commons. These cases demonstrate how the framework can be used to identify patterns of participation showing the support for different values and processes. Furthermore, our conceptual investigation points out a contradiction in Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) research, between the pluralism and conflicts emphasized in more critical and participatory design perspectives used in the development of design, and the features in the actual design of participatory technologies, emphasizing consistency and access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only a select group of countries have systematically surveyed and classified, written and exhibited the history, religion and culture of others. Today, through its Belt and Road Initiative, China begins to join this group. Proclamations to 'revive' the Silk Roads for the twenty-first century have triggered a profusion of cultural sector projects – led in part by the behemoths of China's technology industries, Tencent, Baidu and Huawei – as part of the Belt and Road Initiative cooperation and diplomacy architecture. This paper argues that geocultural power arises from having the capacity to write and map geocultural histories, and that digitalisation and the new cultural economies it creates is fast emerging as a powerful means for achieving this. It demonstrates how Big Earth Data, crowdsourced imagery and VR technologies afford geocultural thinking, and parallels are drawn with nineteenth-century Europe to consider such developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, a growing number of museums have adopted digital media, both as an enhancement of exhibitions of real artifacts and as an alternative to traditional display methods. The digital acquisition of artifacts generates accurate 3D replicas that can be displayed via different digital media. With an increase in immersive technologies in the cultural heritage (CH) domain, it is common to see digital artifacts presented in Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). This paper presents two user studies conducted in different locations evaluating the use of an AR application in the portrayal of the Mjällby Crucifix artifact. This paper presents the overall results from both user studies evaluating and discussing the AR application on a number of different aspects on a 7-point Likert scale: (1) understanding the artifact, (2) ease of use, (3) object feeling part of reality, (4) perceived visual quality of the object, (5) overall satisfaction experience, and (6) willingness to download the AR application. The results have been compared between genders, age groups, and previous experience with AR. Potential benefits and disadvantages of AR experiences in the context of a museum exhibition were also gathered in free text from the visitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past 20 years, museums have made digital technologies key resources for accomplishing and innovating their functions. The current pandemic affirms museums' dependence on digital tools, which have become the only means to reach the public during lockdowns. While the scientific community generally examines information and communication technology as a tool to provide innovative museum functions, it rarely seeks to understand how digital solutions permeate daily organization and management. Through an extensive literature review, this paper aims to consolidate a pre-pandemic body of knowledge from which further investigations and useful suggestions can be developed. By benchmarking heterogeneous literature sources, the study identifies three core topics (business models, digital professions and digital strategy), questioning whether changes driven by digital technology within museums follow radical innovation or gradual adaptation. In the conclusions, the paper underlines major implications for museums, policy makers and scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital interpretation in wild and remote landscapes is hugely challenging, yet offers enormous potential for widening access to heritage in these settings. We provide a critical evaluation of the Walking with Romans app, developed by the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, to interpret two Scheduled Ancient Monuments: Y Pigwn Roman marching camp and Waun Ddu Fortlet (c. AD78). Analysis of digital interpretation has paid less attention to social and multimodal interactions, the spatial experience of digital technologies, and the challenges of achieving successful visits at remote sites. We explore how visitor talk responds to interpretive content while also accomplishing everyday social interactions, such as demonstrating togetherness, by analysing video footage from visits. We find that visitors do a considerable amount of shared work to interpret archaeological features, including the use of talk and other multimodal resources of embodied conduct and the app itself. Visitors demonstrate that terrain underfoot is an important resource for interpreting features and remembering earlier interpretive content. Heritage interpreters could consider how everyday sociability and subtle responses to landscape and terrain are woven into the experience of interpreting landscapes to enhance visitors' experiences of outdoor heritage sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and communication technologies are essential tools for the implementation of physical and virtual museums due to the advantages they provide to generate and transmit knowledge. This article shows the process for the implementation of an interactive didactic museum of the Valdivia, Puruhá and Upano III Cultures in Ecuador, for which the fundamentals and applications of the technological tools to be used were identified, the contents to be disseminated in the museum were designed, and the processes of technological implementation for interactive didactic museums were studied, using the methods of scientific induction, synthetic, analytical and scientific observation, in addition to the types of applied, exploratory, descriptive and explanatory research. Through which the IntiKilla museum was implemented using various technological tools such as Coespaces Edu, Blender 3D and Unitag QR, in order to offer enriched cultural experiences and permanent learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe the concepts, methodology, technology, and practice of a user-centric and historical space-oriented approach towards Historical and Cultural Learning (HCL). The Future Memory project pursues the unifying hypothesis that physical space can play a critical role in the authentication and education of this singular historical event, or space as a frame for memory formation and a source of authentication. We illustrate these aspects in the context of concrete Future Memory projects realized over the last ten years in collaboration with several memorial sites, museums, and archives. Based on these experiences, we subsequently analyze the lessons learned and future challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many new arrival registration cards and official administration records drawn from the Bonegilla Migrant Reception Centre when it closed were digitised and placed on a National Archives of Australia website in 2020. This expansion of the digital archive is important to family historians and to immigration scholars from a variety of disciplines. Now online, both these sets of records trigger further investigations into reception arrangements and newcomer arrival experiences. They extend the ways onsite and online visitors to Bonegilla look for family and personal connections and try to make sense of place and time. This expansion of the digital archive illustrates how Bonegilla has developed as both a designated National Heritage Place and a public memory place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biocultural heritage preservation relies on ethnobotanical knowledge and the paleoethnobotanical data used in (re)constructing histories of human–biota interactions. Biocultural heritage, defined as the knowledge and practices of Indigenous and local peoples and their biological relatives, is often guarded information, meant for specific audiences and withheld from other social circles. As such, these forms of heritage and knowledge must also be included in the ongoing data sovereignty discussions and movement. In this paper we share the process and design decisions behind creating an online database for ethnobotanical knowledge and associated paleoethnobotanical data, using a content management system designed to foreground Indigenous and local perspectives. Our main purpose is to suggest that the Mukurtu content management system, originally designed for physical items of cultural importance, be considered as a potential tool for digitizing and ethically circulating biocultural heritage, including paleoethnobotanical resources. With this database, we aim to create access to biocultural heritage and paleoethnobotanical considerations for a variety of audiences while also respecting the protected and sensitive natures of Indigenous and local knowledges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the culturally focused direction of travel surrounding Gothenburg's fourth centenary, several departments of the municipality have collaborated to produce a virtual model of Gothenburg as it was in the seventeenth century, first presented to the public in 2017. This case study analyses the city's approaches to displaying and vitalising the model, the role of the built environment as a cultural backdrop, and the efficacy of cultural transmission within this digital context. Principally, this analysis offers a critical response to the depiction of the city's cultural heritage, but it also aims to examine the wider role of digital visualisation in contemporary heritage discourse. Characterising the realisation of the model's current iteration as a stepping stone for further development, potential points of departure for creativity and meaning-making within the model itself and in a broader context are made to inform future heritage practices in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the application of serious games to cultural heritage. Through an overview of the growing importance of gamification in promoting cultural sites and museum collections, the research highlights the changing practices of cultural institutions, which are increasingly involved in producing serious games, considering them as strategic digital marketing tools to promote cultural heritage and tourism in addition to their traditional "learning by playing" function. The article explores a case study, namely Mi Rasna, a game on the Etruscan society realized in partnership with several Italian cultural institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The aim of the questionnaire survey was to map the awareness of the academic sphere about the existence and use of web archives and find out how researchers would like to use archival data in their research. The conclusions of the research study will serve as a basis for designing further research activities of the National Library of the Czech Republic. Design/Methodology/Approach - In order to find out the needs of users of web archives the method of quantitative questionnaire was chosen. The process of making the questionnaire was preceded by research that focuses on survey of user needs abroad and definition of the target group. The survey included scientists experienced with web archives as well as those who have not participated in a similar project. The questions were structured into several areas focused on who the respondents are and what is their knowledge about web archives. We also asked about the way and intention of using the web archive and about data literacy. With the request to distribute the questionnaire to the widest possible range of respondents from the academic sphere, universities and colleges, public research institutions, regional and scientific libraries and members libraries of the Association of university libraries were targeted. All of the 146 responses were processed and evaluated. Results - The study summarizes the results of a unique survey in the Czech environment, places them in the context of foreign research on the needs of web archive users and suggests further possibilities for research on these archival data. It summarizes general information about the respondents, their awareness of web archives and its use as well as about experiences working with archive data and about requirements for the Czech Webarchive. Originality/Value - The survey of user needs in the form of an extensive questionnaire survey happened for the first time in the Czech environment and thus made it possible to map the use of web archives. Although the web archive of the National Library of the Czech Republic continuously deals with how it can provide its data and services to users within the framework of legislation, the results of the questionnaire survey provided a unique treasure for the further development of services and functionalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing digitization and the emergence of new data-sharing practices change our understanding of how cultural heritage is defined, collected, and exhibited. We must pay particular attention to the ways in which digital interfaces curate history. Crowdsourcing, social media, linked open data, and other open science practices challenge the current practices of cultural heritage institutions, owing to the established structures between and within them and the character of the networked publics involved. However, such challenges also open new opportunities for wider negotiations of cultural heritage and rethinking what cultural heritage institutions and practices are. This special issue brings together scholars from different disciplines to provide critically and empirically grounded perspectives on the datafication of cultural heritage institutions' exhibition and collection practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present the use of 3D models and augmented reality (AR) to study and communicate architectural and urban values and, therefore, favor the development of dedicated forms of "smart heritage". The study rises from a reflection on the concept of "heritage", as defined in the international documents, intended as an evolving idea that puts together tangible and intangible aspects. Moreover, digital technologies favor "phygital" applications where the digital dimension support the traditional ones. In this way, AR allows the superimposition of multimedia information to heritage, respecting the historical matter of the artefacts, and supporting a "smart heritage" application. In particular, mobile AR, with real-time and ubiquitous visualizations, offers the opportunity to show past urban and architectural configurations to investigate and describe the transformations that have led to the current configuration, and consequently highlighting the present historical and architectural values of the buildings. Two case studies are presented: the square of St. Basilio Monastery, with its historical transformations, and the Basilica of Collemaggio, a pivotal building in the rites of "Perdonanza Celestiniana". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction to the special issue "Photographic Digital Heritage in Cultural Conflicts" calls for the development of research into the various local and global political circumstances that have influenced the absorption of historical photographs into the realm of digital heritage, alongside the study of the digital photographic heritagization practices triggered by this very process. Opening with an exploration of the emergence of "the heritage phenomenon", it analyses how photography, heritage, and the political arena have become interlocked. The discussion then considers how historical photographs, digital heritage and cultural conflicts have subsequently also become entangled since the post-Cold War rising prevalence of digital technology, global interconnectedness and liberal democracy. These related conditions, it is suggested, have informed the growing digital heritagization of historical photographs and the methods used for their digitization, safeguarding and dissemination. Before introducing the individual contributions to the issue, the text therefore argues that the confluence of historical photographs and digital heritage must not be understood as a mere response to technological progress but as an articulation of politically-charged aspirations to capitalize on the common association of photographs with the past, to administer approaches to differing cultural values in a time of imposing liberal-democratic politics of consensus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In March 1942, the Director of British Naval Intelligence, Admiral John Godfrey made a public appeal via the BBC Radio. Godfrey requested listeners to send in holiday photographs and postcards of Europe, particularly places of potential military interest. Over 80,000 people responded with holiday snaps forming a comprehensive library that by 1944 totaled ten million images. Relevant photographs garnered from the public for Operation Overlord were incorporated into military briefing materials, along with maps and zero-elevation aerial photographs, then issued to assault troops in preparation for the invasion of France in June 1944. While the material was largely returned to the British public, over 750,000 images were reproduced and remain in British archives. Over seventy years later, German photographer Simon Menner accessed the Imperial War Museum archive to digitize part of the collection for a photographic project that was not fully realized. This article considers Menner's engagement with these records as a means by which this obscure national achievement has come to light beyond military history research. It also foregrounds the tension between political conflict surrounding digitization of declassified state and vernacular material, and Menner's photographic intervention as a protagonist in the ongoing efforts to access formerly secret or confidential government material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software is an architectural outcome of human labor which today houses the collective creative output of billions of people. Video games are a subset of software; they enable users to create their own built environments within a digital framework which can be shared with others for enjoyment, but these are later subject to abandonment and destruction. These digital constructions in synthetic, ephemeral spaces provide a unique challenge to archaeologists: how to document, preserve, and analyze archaeological evidence of human occupation of digital spaces, especially when that period of occupation can last mere minutes and can vanish from the digital landscape without a trace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]